According to the International Centre for Prison Studies, the United States has the highest prison population per capita in the world. In 2009, for example, 1 out of every 135 U.S. residents was incarcerated. Typically, inmates convicted of felony offenses serve long sentences in prison (e.g., federal or state prisons), whereas those convicted of misdemeanors receive shorter sentences to be served in jail (e.g., county jail). In either case, while awaiting trial, a suspect or accused may remain incarcerated. During his or her incarceration, an inmate may have opportunities to communicate with the outside world.
By allowing prisoners to have some contact with friends and family while incarcerated, the justice system aims to facilitate their transition back into society upon release. Traditional forms of contact include telephone calls, in-person visitation, conjugal visits, etc. More recently, technological advances have allowed jails and prisons to provide other types of visitation, including videoconferences and online chat sessions.
To enable these various types of communications, a jail or prison may install communication devices in different parts of the facility. Such communication devices are dedicated to provide inmate contact with the outside world. These devices are located in different areas throughout the facility. At the time of a scheduled visitation, an officer may physically move the inmate from his or her cell to a communication device or station in a designated area within the correctional facility, where he or she may be able to conduct a remote visitation with friends, family, acquaintances, etc. When the communication is over, the officer may then escort the inmate back to his or her cell.
From a non-resident's perspective, the inventor hereof has recognized that existing remote visitation systems are computer-based. In other words, in order for a non-resident of a controlled-environment facility to conduct a remote visitation session with an inmate of that facility, the non-resident must generally have access to a personal computer. The non-resident must also be sufficiently knowledgeable about computer systems—and sometimes computer networking—to be able to independently operate his or her computer and initiate a visitation session. As a result, despite the recent technological advances, a large portion of inmates' friends and family remains without a viable way to participate in remote visitations.
Fortunately, the inventor hereof has also recognized that most households have a television set or the like, as well as cable or satellite service, which are more generally accessible to everybody. Accordingly, to address the foregoing concerns associated with computer-based remote visitation systems, the inventor hereof has developed systems and methods for providing remote visitation and other services to non-residents via display devices such as, for example, television sets, projectors, or monitors.